ExpressJet E-145. By Rob Finlayson

More than 2,100 ExpressJet and Atlantic Southeast Airlines (ASA) flight attendants have voted to join the International Assn. of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. The election was prompted by the merger of the two airlines after Utah-based SkyWest Inc. last year acquired Houston-based ExpressJet and announced it would merge with SkyWest's Atlanta-based subsidiary ASA (ATW Daily News, Oct. 17).

The election, which was conducted by the National Mediation Board (NMB), was between the IAM, which represented 1,150 ExpressJet flight attendants, and the Assn. of Flight Attendants-Communications Workers of America (AFA-CWA), which represented 1,010 flight attendants at ASA.

According to the NMB, IAM received 1,065 votes, while the AFA-CWA received 666 votes. There were 26 votes for “no union.”

IAM has already begun the process of negotiating a single collective bargaining agreement for the combined flight attendant group. A bargaining priority survey was launched before voting even began, and the official solicitation of contract proposals will begin immediately.

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